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Tanya Atanasova

Since her graduation from the National Academy of Art in Sofia, Tanya Atanasova has worked in several different media: painting, ceramics, sculptures and installations… She grew up in an environment where different artistic disciplines were in constant interaction. But although she has been drawing and painting all her life (her secondary and BAA educations were art related), she has only discovered her great passion for oil painting in 2016. Inspired, after visiting the studios/taking master classes by some of her most favorite contemporary artists - she decided to become a full time painter. Dedicated to big size non-traditional portraits, she started weaving her way through contemporary realism. She is now working from her own studio in Antwerp – one of Europe’s most important cities for art and culture. In 2017 she is preparing a solo exposition of portraits (to be completed in 2019) and she was pre-selected for some of world’s most remarkable competition such as MEAM Museum’s in Barcelona.

In her artistic practice Tanya uses a lot of old and modern painting techniques to create the different “layers” of a personality, character, spirit, presence… Each of her paintings tells a story and she devotes a lot of attention to the construction of her character’s personalities. Being interested in the psychology of her models, the artist wants to become an intermediary between subject and viewer – building a connection that goes beyond painted realism. Her gaze is directed deep into the story of every personage she creates, his/her identity and unique complexity. Looking at the paintings should be like taking a glimpse into the character’s diary or reading a page out of his/her biography.